keep repainting the world into an ideal one
by Scarlet Hibiscus
Summary: [hiatus] In 1979, Regulus Black goes into hiding while most people assume he's dead. In 1981, the infant Harry Potter goes missing before he can be brought to the Dursleys. In 1991, a letter from Hogwarts is delivered to "Mr. Harry Potter, 12 Grimmauld Place".
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I have no idea how to write an interesting summary, but I hope to come up with something better at some point. This is an answer to the "Harry Potter Re-Raising Project Challenge" issued by Lamia of the Dark.

* * *

"Sirius, you're crazy."

"Just for a few days, Regulus." Sirius' voice was hoarse, the combination of grief and anger bottled up inside him making it hard to speak without screaming out his frustration. He looked away from the infant bundled up in his arms and stared straight into his brother's eyes. "Who else am I supposed to trust right now?"

Now it was Regulus' turn to choke on his own voice. He exhaled sharply and tried to keep his composure. "And what are you going to do in these few days?"

The storm raging inside Sirius' grey eyes picked up force, and the man bared his teeth in a menacing smile. "Don't worry about it, but I can't bring little Harry with me. I'll be back as soon as possible. Please, Regulus."

"Okay... okay, I'll do it." he stepped closer to his brother and took the sleeping baby in his arms. "You know how to contact me. And... Sirius? Whatever you plan on doing, be careful."

Before anything else could be said, Regulus apparated away, leaving Sirius to stand alone in the middle of the mostly destroyed house. Dumbledore or one of his followers was bound to show up very soon, and it wouldn't be wise for them to find the two brothers together, especially when everybody assumed one of them was dead.

-x-x-x-

It took Regulus two days to find out what happened. Hiding from everybody made it difficult to keep up with the news, but before long he was forced out of hiding to procure the necessary things for Harry's well-being, and once he was out it didn't take long to hear about it.

Regulus knew the Dark Lord wasn't truly gone, and even if he did feel relief about the temporary victory over him, it was hard feeling any happiness when apparently his brother had betrayed his life-long best friends. He wasn't convinced Sirius would have ever done it, but what if it was true? And maybe contacting Regulus was also part of his plan, get the Potters killed and then hand-over his defecting little brother.

But Sirius had looked sincere that night, asking Regulus to take care of the little Harry Potter until he could do it himself.

As he entered the shabby apartment he was currently using as hiding place, Regulus sighed and shook his head, as if to shake off the million thoughts running through it. He had to focus on the task at hand first, which was feeding Harry. The kid was a quiet thing, and taking care of him had been easy for those two days, but what was he supposed to do now? Leaving him to be found by muggles was out of question, but so was approaching areas inhabited by wizards when there were still many Death Eaters around.

Taking on the role of father was definitely not something he planned on doing, but...

It had been a long time since the two Black brothers had been truly close, but after Regulus went into hiding and contacted Sirius in a desperate attempt to reconcile with him because he was sure he would inevitably die sooner rather than later, he had realized that he had never stopped loving his brother. Life tore them apart once, yet mending their relationship finally seemed possible.

And Regulus refused to let anything tear them apart a second time, no matter what might or might not have really happened. Sirius asked him to take care of his godson, and right now the infant was the only connection between them, no matter how tenuous. He might have not wanted to become anybody's caretaker, but he would make sure Harry ended up somewhere he would be cared for.

-x-x-x-

Harry Potter wasn't too bad, as far as kids went. He was generally quiet, and even when he cried because he wanted his parents it only took a little cuddling and a some magic to make him happy again - he seemed especially fond of pillows being transfigured into friendly bunnies. Regulus wasn't a particularly loving person, but he tried to think of what Sirius would have done and attempted to take care of Harry at the best of his abilities.

A month into his baby-sitter adventure, Regulus still hadn't decided on a permanent solution. He had tried to gather some information on what was going on in the wizarding world, and he was starting to suspect the fact that Harry Potter had disappeared was being kept a secret, but he also found out that the oddly-shaped scar on the boy's forehead was somehow public knowledge. Had Sirius mentioned it to Dumbledore? It made him paranoid, and it made finding an accommodation for Harry difficult.

There was nobody left who Regulus trusted enough to entrust Harry to, and knowing the boy would be recognized by any wizard in the country put the man in a tight spot. He toyed with the idea of bringing him to his mother, knowing that if nothing else she could grant him a proper wizardry upbringing. But he hadn't seen Walburga Black in two years now, and knowing she had been living alone with only Kreacher for company for almost as long at that point, he quickly discarded the idea.

-x-x-x-

Regulus heard of Bellatrix' arrest a few months after the fact. He had avoided the wizarding world for some time, but all the news about the Death Eaters arrests (and more acquittances than he was comfortable with) were the push he needed. Revealing to the world at large that he was alive still wasn't something he was ready for, but he hoped that letting his mother know would at least give him and Harry somewhere to live without having to switch hideouts every week.

He could only hope his mother's reaction to his return would be favorable. Sirius wouldn't have approved, but Sirius was gone and Regulus needed to do what he thought was best for Harry.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This story seems to have gathered more interest than I thought it would! Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and alerts.

* * *

Harry's first burst of accidental magic happened when he was five, during Walburga Black's burial. Regulus resented the fact that the kid's first time out of the Black family home in years had been for that kind of occasion, but it wouldn't have been fair for him not to be present. The only other two people in attendance were Regulus' grandfathers, Arcturus and Pollux, and although both were surprised at finding out he was alive, they refrained from asking who the boy who kept pulling down his pointed hat on his forehead was.

Harry had clearly been on the verge of crying for the whole service, and when a tear finally escaped him, he gasped in shock and suddenly disappeared. Regulus tried not to panic, it was normal for accidental magic to happen when strong emotions were involved, and chances were the kid simply apparated back home, so he immediately went there to check.

12 Grimmauld Place was quieter than it had been in recent memory, the eerie silence making Regulus feel uncomfortable as he started climbing the stairs. He had a good idea of where Harry might have ended up, and as he slowly pushed open the door to the master bedroom his suspicion was confirmed. Sitting on the bed was Harry, hugging his knees and sobbing silently.

Comforting people had never been something he was good at, and Regulus was unsure of what to do or if he should have said anything at all. He sat down next to the boy and simply held him into his arms. It reminded him of when Sirius would do the same for him, after a particularly harsh punishment from their parents, and the memory of the warm feeling of being so close to his brother was enough to almost make him cry as well.

They stayed like that for a long time, until Harry started breathing normally again, without tears and sobs, and looked up towards the Black crest placed above the bedroom door.

"She'll be mad that I cried. Pure-blood children shouldn't cry over trifles." he said, his voice raspy.

Regulus felt a pang of emotion at those words. Walburga might have been more loving with Harry than she had ever been with her own children, but some things were simply inevitable. He was almost glad that she died before she could fill Harry's head with pure-blood supremacist propaganda, even if the fact that she considered him almost her own child and did her best to raise him as a proper pure-blood wizard had been fascinating to watch.

"This is one of those situations where it's acceptable to let out your emotions, Harry." he ruffled the boy's hair and then gently coaxed him off the bed "Why don't you go clean up and then we eat dinner? I'm sure you're hungry."

-x-x-x-

Before long, it was decided to change the bedroom arrangements. Until that point Regulus and Harry had both been sleeping in Regulus' room, but now it was time for the man to move to the master bedroom, and to stop being paranoid and let Harry have a room all for himself. And he wanted to let him have a very specific room.

"You will sleep in Sirius' old bedroom from now on, so you can have your own room."

"Sirius?"

While Walburga lived, as much as mentioning Sirius' name was forbidden. Harry had asked, once, about the names removed from the tapestry of the Black family tree, and the succinct answer about whoever it was that should have been next to Regulus had been 'he ran away'. The kid wasn't stupid, and realized it was best to not bring it up again.

Regulus has no idea how to explain things to Harry, but he didn't want to lie to him. It wouldn't have done any good to wait too long to tell him what really happened to his parents, and maybe it was time to start disclosing the truth.

"Sirius... is my older brother. He was also your father's best friend."

At that, Harry perked up, an excited look on his face at the prospect of learning something about his parents. All he knew about them was that their death was the reason why it wasn't safe for him to leave the house, and Walburga had once told him that his father was from an old pure-blood family, which had filled Harry with pride.

"Tell me more about him, please!" Harry jumped up and down, eager. "Wait, can we see his room first? Can I move my things there?" without waiting for an answer, he took off.

Shaking his head in amusement, Regulus ignored his mother's portrait rude comment about running inside the house and followed the kid.

"Sometimes he acts like he had a Snitch for breakfast."

-x-x-x-

Regulus looked down in disgust at the muggle clothes he was wearing, and then at Harry, who seemed to be radiating pure excitement at the prospect of finally properly visiting the outside world. They were going to visit a muggle doctor and buy Harry a pair of glasses, so the poor kid would stop giving himself headaches every time he sat down in the library room to read a book.

It was also Harry's birthday, and Regulus had promised him that they would spend the whole day out. The muggle world was safe for Harry, and keeping him confined at home until it was time for him to leave for Hogwarts wouldn't have been a good idea, no matter how much Regulus was tempted to do it. He idly wondered what Sirius would have said if he found out his brother had turned into a stereotypical apprehensive parent.


End file.
